West Indies Cricket Squad Will Be Ready For South Africa

News Americas, ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Thurs. Nov. 20, 2014: Seems like the West Indies cricket fiasco of recent weeks is almost over.

The West Indies Cricket Board this week announced all but one of the original players in the squad has signed on for the tour of South Africa in January.

Trinidad-born West Indies batsman Darren Bravo is the only one who has opted out of the tour.

The WICB did not disclose the circumstances behind Bravo’s pull-out except to say: “Darren Bravo wrote to chairman of selectors Clive Lloyd and requested not to be considered for the Test series due to personal reasons,” the WICB release stated. “The WICB extends its best wishes to Bravo as he seeks to address his personal matters and looks forward to his return to the game.”

There must be a sigh of relief of both the West Indies and South Africa sides.

The signing of player contracts had assumed a critical importance in the aftermath of the West Indies ODI squad pulled out of the India tour last month. The apparent revolt was led by Dwayne Bravo, the West Indies ODI captain, who said the players felt discriminated against by the actions of the West Indies Players Association, which had gone ahead and signed a combined business agreement along with the new memorandum of understanding with WICB.

Dwayne Bravo insisted at the time that the MoU would hurt the players’ payment structure drastically and the WIPA had bypassed them by signing the agreement.

The pull-out led to The Board of Control for Cricket in India slapping a $42 million penalty for abandoning the India tour even as the WICB swiftly moved to alleviate the player concerns.

But by signing the contracts for the South Africa tour the players have seemingly put their faith back in the ongoing negotiations with WICB and WIPA.

The West Indies are scheduled to play three Tests, three T20Is and five ODIs on their tour of South Africa ending on January 28th.